Susan J. Napier comments
on the American experience of contemporary Japanese animation.

Susan J.
Napier turned her critical eye from Mishima Yukio
and Kenzaburo Oe to the likes of Otomo Katsuhiro
and Miyazaki Hayao for her latest book, "Anime: From Akira to Princess Mononoke," published by Palgrave
Macmillan.

COURTESY OF SUSAN J.
NAPIER

ONE of the first movies I
ever saw was Walt Disney's
Fantasia. I loved it and went on to see many more animated
films while I was a child but, like most Americans, turned
increasingly towards live action movies as I grew older.
Then something strange happened: While living in London in
1990 I saw the British premier of Otomo Katsuhiro's animated film Akira. I was stunned by
its sophisticated visuals, complex story line and dark emotional
tone. Ultimately, I became engrossed in anime and went on
to write a book about it.

It turned out that I was
not the only non-Japanese to be impressed by this new cultural
import from Japan. In the years since Akira's first showing, more and more people around the world have become
fascinated by Japanese animation. On a recent trip to France
I walked into a small bookstore in Burgundy to find no less
than six (yes, six!) magazines devoted to anime and its related
medium manga (comic books). In March I attended a conference
on anime hosted by the Agency of Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho)
in Tokyo for representatives of ASEAN countries and was amazed
to hear how many artists in places such as Thailand, Malaysia
and Singapore have been inspired by anime. Perhaps even more
exciting, in April of 2003 the Japanese animated film Spirited
Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) directed by Miyazaki
Hayao won the Oscar for best animated film, beating out four
American entries including two from Disney.

What are the reasons behind
the enormous popularity of anime around the world? Part of
the answer undoubtedly lies with globalization and its related
elements such as the growth of worldwide markets and information
technology. Where, forty years ago, American children might
have been able to watch a very few Japanese animated series
such as Tezuka Osamu's
popular Astro Boy, (Tetsuwan Atomu), years after they premiered
in Japan, now fans can access the immense range of Japanese
animation almost instantly through the magic of DVDs and
computers. Furthermore, globalization and the rise of the
electronic entertainment industries have created an ever-increasing
demand for new cultural products to fill the electronic space
around us.

But such an answer only raises
a more fundamental question: why anime? Unlike Hollywood,
which over the last decade or more has consistently employed
a strategy of "dumbing
down" and homogenizing its products to
make them more generic and more accessible to a global audience,
Japanese animation remains uncompromisingly Japanese in its
values, aesthetics, humor and story lines. And this may be
precisely the reason for its appeal. In a world where popular
culture seems increasingly heading toward cookie cutter uniformity,
Japanese animation stands out because of its uniqueness,
a challenging and exciting alternative to American mass culture.

At least this seems to be
the feeling of most anime fans. In researching my book on
anime I have interviewed hundreds of American fans in an
attempt to discover anime's attraction for them. Although the responses
vary widely, the most common thread is undoubtedly anime's "difference" from mainstream
popular culture. Not only is anime "different," for many of my interviewees it is superior. Fans speak glowingly
of anime's
beautiful artwork, haunting musical themes, and fascinating
and varied story lines. Since animated features, by some
estimates, account for around 50% of Japanese television
and film output, the fans have an enormous range of anime
to choose from. Anime includes brooding apocalyptic visions,
lighthearted romantic comedies, elegiac historical dramas,
and elaborate science fiction and fantasy worlds.

Indeed many fans enthusiastically
enter what might be called the "world" of anime itself, a world, which includes computer chat rooms, fan
art and fan videos and, most importantly, the many anime "cons" or conventions,
which are becoming an increasingly important part of the
American anime landscape. At the "cons," thousands of anime
devotees get to mingle with their fellow fans, meet famous
anime voice stars from Japan, sell and purchase anime memorabilia,
see new and classic anime, and, perhaps most enjoyably, engage
in cosu pure ("costume play") in which participants wander the corridors dressed as their favorite
anime characters, or else take part in cosu pure skits on
stage to appreciative audiences. To many fans, the anime
world operates as a surrogate family, or even a surrogate
lifestyle.

In fact, many anime fans
have told me that they strongly identify with anime characters.
For most older Americans, accustomed to thinking of cartoons
as childish things to be left behind as one enters adulthood,
such a willingness to mentally engage with obviously unreal
characters may seem surprising. But for young people all
over the world, raised in an age of computer graphics and
virtual reality, the world of anime may seem just as real
and perhaps more welcoming than the uniformity and sterility
of modern life.

Susan J. Napier is a professor of Japanese
literature and culture at the University of Texas at Austin.